No more fake motor insurance in Ghana as motor insurance goes digital

Government’s digitization agenda which, is being spearheaded by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has achieved another milestone with the addition of motor insurance to the growing list of digitized government agencies.

The Vice President announced in July last year at the US-Ghana Business Forum that after holding a series of meetings with the National Insurance Commission, plans were far advanced for motor insurance in Ghana to be digitized in January 2020 to ensure that fake motor insurance are cleared off the system, as well as make the process of acquiring and verifying genuine motor insurance easier for vehicle owners.

The motor insurance digitization has now become a reality as the National Insurance Commission has announced the commencement of the implementation of the Motor Insurance Database (MID).

“The objective of the introduction of the Motor Insurance Database is to curb the menace of vehicles with fake motor insurance stickers plying our roads, thus endangering lives and property,” the National Insurance Commission announced.

With the digitization of motor insurance in Ghana, all insurance policies, which now have key security features, have been synchronized to a national database, which can be accessed simply with any mobile phone by the insured, the police, and the general public.

Now, the first point of verifying the authenticity of a vehicle insurance is that upon the purchase of a valid Motor Insurance Policy, the insured will receive a text message to confirm its validity.

The insured and other members of the public can also self-check the authenticity of their insurance policy by dialing a USSD code *920*57# and follow the instructions thereafter to know the status of the following features of an insurance policy: status of policy, class of policy, period, insurance company, vehicle registration number, premium paid as well as final authenticating message from the National Insurance Commission.

Interestingly, the USSD code also allows passengers to verify if a vehicle has valid insurance before they board, and it is the same process, which the Police will also use to check the validity of a motor insurance.

Following the introduction of the motor insurance database, the National Insurance Commission has also announced that effective January 20, all old motor insurance stickers have become invalid. New insurance policy makers will now be issued with an electronic motor insurance sticker with QR code’s, which are generated from the motor insurance database portal, and can be scanned with a QR code reader to verify its authenticity.

For insurance stickers issued prior to the deadline, the National Insurance Commission all insurance companies to upload details of such policies on the national insurance database to enable the Police and the general public check their authenticities, just as new policies.

The successful implementation of the Motor Insurance Database is another feather in the cap of the government’s digitization drive, which has seen many state institutions going digital.

Championed by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamaudu Bawumia, the government’s vigorous digitization drive has already seen state agencies such as the Registrar General Department, Drivers and Vehicle License Authority, National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana Ports Authority, the Passport Office, etc. go digital, which has made services being provided by these agencies very easy and convenient.

A number of services, including the delivery emergency drugs through Zipline drones, tracking of have also been digitized

Recently, Dr. Bawumia also announced another upcoming digitization plan by the government called the Ghana.Gov a synchronized digital platform which will host all government agencies for a one-stop access instead of logging on to different platforms to access government services.

On the evidence of what government's digitization success so far, the Akufo-Addo government is on course to achieve its digitization objective as revealed by Dr. Bawumia at a Ghana Digital Road-map Conference held in May last year.

The Vice President said, government's plan to adopt technology and digitization in all sectors of the Ghanaian economy, will not only help attract potential international investors, but also help the nation to overcome geographic barriers and inspire entrepreneurship, and ultimately become the ICT leader in Sub-Sahara Africa by 2023.